Be My Eyes
by Hovinarri
Summary: Ryou is just a lonely, blind six-year old. But then he meets Marik. Can this little Egyptian cheer up Ryou and get him to see the miracles of the world again? Shonen-ai, Ryou x Marik, AU
1. The Seven Days Of Friendship

Tiikerikissa here again, with a new story!

Here both (hikari) Ryou and (hikari) Marik are 6! And Ishizu is 19, for the sake of the story! And it's from Ryou's POV! Oh, and Ryou is blind and- well I guess that's enough spoilers for now. ^^;

I'm not sure how the preschool-kindergarten system works in Japan... Just... Live with it and enjoy? ^^;

**Warnings:** ...none? I don't think there's anything I should warn about right now, probably shonen-ai and language later, but later is later..

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters or places, actually I don't own anything except my dear notebook I sketched this in.

* * *

That day started pretty much like any other day, I think. It was loud, like always. I didn't like it at all, because it was way too loud to actually hear anything.  
Suddenly, I heard a voice that was so close to me that it didn't get lost in the mess of scream and laughter. "Heeeeeeey~?" I leaned to touch the voice. It was soft and friendly. It sounded like a boy around my age.  
I opened my mouth, carefully thinking before saying anything. "Are- are you talking to me?"  
"Yes you. I thought you seemed lonely. Do you want to be my friend?" I nodded slowly and felt my lips turn upwards to a smile.  
"Yay!" came his quick reply, and he really did sound happy.  
"I'm Ishtar Marik!" he announced. Didn't sound Japanese, and I even recall noting that in my mind back then, as he only mentioned about Egypt to me later. "Bakura Ryou." I replied, still smiling to my new friend.

"How come you didn't notice me earlier? I was trying your attention for hours!" Marik then questioned, with an annoyed tone, which is something I have always been very familiar with. Though I believe he hadn't really been there for hours, as I had only been there half an hour myself. But children tend to overdo things...  
"I'm blind." I muttered sadly.  
I heard clear confusement in Marik's voice now. "Whuzzat?" My best bet was that Marik didn't know much about the world. _Maybe he's rich or something_, I thought back then.  
"I can't see." I explained blankly. "Anything." I added, just to make sure Marik actually understood.  
"Oh..." my new friend sounded really sad now. "Should I fill you in about your surroundings then?" he paused, waiting for my reply.  
I nodded. "Yeah." Of course it would be nice to know about things I couldn't see for myself, since nobody bothered to talk to me about stuff like that. Or about anything at all, actually.  
"Well let me see.. The carpet we're sitting on is red and fuzzy, the walls are yellow, probably to cheer us up. The ceiling is wood, I think it might be maple or something. Over there's a brunette girl wearing a pink skirt, playing with a plushie zebra. And there's a boy with colorful hair, completing one of those puzzle-thingys, and.. Oh hey, me!" He laughed, and it made me so happy to hear that I laughed too, for the first time in ages.

"I have blond hair, kinda half-longish, and purple eyes, and tan skin. I'm wearing a beige t-shirt and purple pants. Yep. And..." he sounded a little uncomfortable. "...that's my cheek you're touching." he laughed again, and I quickly pulled my hand away. By now, I had already forgotten how I had wanted to touch the voice, the owner of the voice, actually, him. My new, first and only friend. But he grabbed my wrist and took my hand back. "I don't mind." he assured me, and I smiled again, a slight blush warming my pale cheeks, even though I couldn't for my life figure out why. His cheek was warm like mine now, I could feel it.  
And it was somehow comforting to know he was there. Not just because I could hear his voice, but also because I could actually feel him there.

It was quiet for a while. Actually it was really loud, as six-year olds aren't that quiet in general, but Marik didn't say another word, and only that mattered. Fortunately I got to keep my hand on his cheek, so I was certain he was still there.  
And after quite some time, Marik finally broke the silence long-lasting silence, causing me to sigh in relief. "Why are you here?" was his question. Yes, it sounded weird, but I knew immediately what he meant by that. The kindergarten was not a place for blind kids, you see. It was pretty awful even for kids with two working eyes, I believe.

"My parents died. They haven't found me a new family yet, and I guess they had to put me somewhere." I told him.  
Marik made a sad sound, and he sounded caring. Back then I couldn't yet tell what caring sounded like, as I learnt it from Marik later on. "How sad..."  
I could feel something wet roll on his cheek (my hand was still there, yes, but it really felt nice in a weird way), and it didn't take me long to realize it was a tear. Nobody had ever cried for me before, so I pulled my friend closer and hugged him tightly, wiping the tears away.  
Soon he stopped crying, and I pulled away. "My parents died too." he informed me. "But I'm living with my big sister. Once in a while she needs to take care of shopping and stuff, and then she leaves me here. Like today." he paused here, probably to think. "I will nevernevernevernever complain about shopping again! Without shopping, we wouldn't have met! Yay shopping!" he suddenly announced with a smile in his voice.  
I smiled too, and then we started drawing with crayons. He would give me the colours I asked for and talk to me about things.

Marik told me what his sister, Ishizu, looked like; raven-black hair (I found it weird, Marik was a platinum blond and his sister's hair was raven-black? But I didn't bring it up.), tan skin like his own. Here he mentioned how pretty my skin colour was and how fluffy my hair looked. And here he asked me if he could poke my hair. I agreed to it, and he was very delicate when he leant to touch it. It had felt kinda nice, I recall. And he asked about me. What was my favorite colour (Purple was my answer, it felt so weirdly pretty for an eye colour), food (I couldn't think of anything), how long I had been blind (not for long). Stuff like that.

But every day has to end, and after a few hours Ishizu came to pick up Marik. He promised me he would be back the next day, no matter what Ishizu said, and I believed him.  
So when we had meal, and I took a few poor attempts at eating... something, I told myself I would meet Marik the next day.  
When someone showed me the way to my bed, I told myself I would Marik the next day.  
When I couldn't sleep, I told myself I would meet Marik the next day.  
When I woke up in the middle of the night, I told myself I would meet Marik the next day.

When the next day finally came, I went back to the room where I had first met Marik.  
And it didn't take long before I heard his voice. "Missed me?" And then he hugged me softly from behind.  
I believe he had meant that as a joke, since Marik does have a good sense of humour, but I smiled to him and replied: "Yes, a whole lot."  
And that day, we were reading. And I couldn't read, naturally, since I was blind, and neither could Marik, since he was six (Another thing I found out on the first day, he was indeed the same age as myself). But he pretented to read the book aloud and told me stories of ancient Egypt, about the great Pharaoh named Atem, about the King of Thieves, whose name was conviniently Bakura. That made us both laugh.

The next few days followed this pattern. I went to that room, and soon Marik came. I learned a lot about him, like that he was quite demanding, but he rarely asked Ishizu for anything. That was also why Ishizu brought him there every day when he asked her. That warmed my heart. And Marik taught me things. He taught me about history (to be honest, his knowledge about history was pretty much what he learned from Ishizu, but I liked listening to him regardless), about culture (this means: why sushi isn't good), about friendship. He said that a friend is there for you when you need them, that they stand by your side, help you... I thought Marik was all that and much more to me.

But on the eighth day, he didn't come. I sat there all day, but he never came.  
I ate nothing at breakfast, dinner or lunch. I wasn't hungry at all.  
I was just sad. I had thought we were friends. But now he wasn't there for me.  
I slept really poorly that night. I hadn't had anyone I could trust in for ages, and now that I had trusted Marik, he had let me down. And I couldn't understand why.

Not at all.

* * *

The end.

I have this planned forward, actually, but if nobody reviews it etc. etc. etc. I'll leave it as a one-shot. So review if you want to see it continue? Or even if you don't... Oh, and I'll continue Turn Back Time soon too!

~Tiikerikissa


	2. A Countdown For You

W00t, an actual update~! *cheers*

Slightly shorter, no cliff-hanger, just a piece of the whole picture.

I guess you people might wonder how I manage to write about 6-year old kids with the rating T. It's just in case so I won't need to bring it up whatever happens... :/

Oh, and the Romance genre. Yeah, I'll explain it... Later... Don't worry about it, it will be there...

**Disclaimer:** Have you seen a picture of Kazuki Takahashi? o.o'' Well I'm not him, and I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters.

**Warnings:** Nada.

...you wanted a story, too?

* * *

On the eighth morning from the day I met him, my hopes weren't too high on Marik suddenly reappearing. Why would he, anyways? I was certain that he had found better friends than myself.

Considering how my personality wasn't too out-going, leaving him to handle most of the talking.  
Add up the fact that I was more or less traumatized because of my past.  
Plus the inevitable truth about me being blind, this totals Marik 3, Ryou 0. Three reasons like that should be more than enough, and it wasn't even like I had known him for years or anything. Just a week, but without any doubt or much of a competition, it had been the best week of my little life.

So this resulted that I sat in that very same room pretty much all day, not doing much. Listening to the things I could hear - some girl had lost her precious little teddy bear, but nobody could find it, someone had food poisoning and they never showed up... I wished it was the same with Marik, but it felt like a foolish hope. Him finding new friends sounded way more likely.

And I also realized that wishing for my best friend to have food poisoning was maybe just a little bit mean.

Ninth day came. I did nothing differently. I didn't eat, either. I didn't want to, even though there was spaghetti, which had become my favorite food since I had some with Marik. It felt so pointless.

Tenth day. I was replaying my favorite memories - every single one of them from the last week, actually. I decided that it was good that I had met Marik, there were more good sides than bad, anyways.

Eleven.  
Twelve.  
Thirteen.

I couldn't count any farther. My father had never cared enough to teach me more numbers, and my mum didn't live so long.

A few days passed before I had gathered the courage to ask one of the ladies what came next.  
"Kujaku-san?" I muttered to her, trying to sound polite. My father was always mad at me if I wasn't polite enough when addressing people - especially people older than myself.  
"Just say Mai, and I'll call you Ryou, okay? What's up?" she replied kindly.  
"Okay, Mai-san." I kept a pause here. "What comes after thirteen?" I asked her, trying to decide where to turn my head.  
She chuckled, and I wondered what exactly she found so funny about my question. "Oh. Numbers. It's fourteen."

"Thanks." I muttered and smiled. "I'll come ask you again tomorrow, Mai-san."  
She didn't question this, instead she gave me a chocolate chip cookie and wouldn't let me go before I had eaten it. "You don't eat enough, Ryou-kun." she remarked. I shrugged and ate the cookie.

So the-day-that-wasn't-fourteenth-but-I-had-lost-count came. And since Mai-san had been worried, I ate something, too. I think the "something" was in-between porridge and tomato. Don't even ask, I don't know how they can make us eat tomato-porridge either...

Marik still wasn't there... Of course I was sad, but I was somewhat getting over it. Slowly. Maybe I wouldn't remember his voice anymore... In ten years or so...

I felt like I shouldn't call Marik without any honorifics in my mind since that wasn't polite, but he hadn't seemed too bothered by it, so whatever?

Another point: Not like Marik was in my mind anyways. Well, actually he was... But I mean that he couldn't read my mind.

That was way off-topic... Anyways, the day, not-fourteenth- yeah I guess you got it. So I ate something, and then I asked Mai-san what came after fourteen. She told me it was fifteen and questioned what I was counting. I told her it wasn't important, but I never thought she'd buy it.

And the next day proved me right. She wouldn't give me a new number before I told her what I was counting. I muttered something about a friend, and she guessed Marik right away.

"How did you know?" I asked her, most definitely confused by this.  
She laughed openly. "Because he's the only one here you've actually talked to."  
"Oh." I felt a little confused, wondering if I really hadn't talked to anyone else. I guess it was possible, since I really wasn't that talkative.  
"Yep. Well, the next number is sixteen." Mai said.  
"Sixteen..." I repeated to make sure I could pronounce it right. "Arigatou!"

So the day that would've been sixteenth if I hadn't lost count came. And it was different in so many ways.

After getting my "daily number of friendship", as Mai-san had dubbed it, I walked to that room. And then I heard a familiar voice.  
"Hiya!"  
It took me no time to recognize. "Marik...-kun?" I fixed the mistake in my speech quickly in an attempt to make it sound more polite.  
He just laughed. "Yeah, but just Marik. M-A-RIK." he tried to spell it for me, but he wasn't too sure about it, either.  
I laughed too, for no specific reason. Some kind of a special thing about friends, I guess. That they make you happy without really doing anything special.

"Where were you?" I then accused him.  
I guess he could hear the hurt in my voice, as he hugged me and nearly started sobbing. "I'm so sorry Ryou, but I can't tell you!"  
"Oh." I mumbled, wondering what my best friend's secret was.  
Almost like he could read my mind, or maybe it was obvious, Marik explained: "I'll tell you later, 'kay?"

I couldn't say no, because that promise meant he'd still be around whenever "later" was. "Okay then."

"Great!" Marik chimed. "I can tell you this much now, actually." he kept a pause here. "Ishizu was too busy to bring me here. It really sucked, you know?"  
I nodded, not really willing to admit just how awful it had felt to me. It was both pathetic and embarrassing.  
"But it will be worth it!" he suddenly declared, sounding quite determined.  
"Aha." I half-agreed without knowing at all what he was talking about. But he was so happy about it, so it didn't really matter.

"So, what do ya wanna do?" he asked me.  
That question shouldn't have been so hard to answer, but it was. There weren't really things I liked to do, I had never done much.  
"Can you count?" I finally asked him.  
"To hundred, yes." was his reply, a hint of proudness in his voice.  
"...aha."  
He was quiet for a while. "That's ten times ten. Hundred."  
"Oh, thanks. I think I understood now." I nod to myself. Ten ten.  
Makes sense. Not. I didn't understand it at all. "...or maybe not."

"Like..." he struggled to explain it better. "Oh well. How far can you count, Ryou?"  
I looked away. Or not actually -looked-, but I turned my head, and you know..."Seventeen."

"Then I can teach to to count all the way to hundred! Yay!" he truly did sound happy about it.  
"Okay!" I agreed, glad that I could make him happy like this.

* * *

As I mentioned; no cliffy. Whoa. Well, review and I will continue, and so sorry for failing with most review replies last time. I promise it won't happen again! .

Will be updating faster and with a longer chapter if you review~~~


	3. Secrets and Dreams

Hi-hi-hiya again~ Cheerfully cheerfuling about~

I hope I can share some of my current good mood with you guys through this~! :'D

If I could have more tags, this would be Friendship/Humor/Romance/Hurt/Comfort... Oh well, can't have everything, right? :P

Oh and I took the rating down with this. owo It's now K+~

**Warnings:** None! Yay!

**Disclaimer:** Don't own. Never have. Never will. /quotes TWEWY, which I don't own either. o.o''

_Emphasis on a word_

"Talking"

* * *

While Marik could indeed count to hundred, and he could tell me he had been gone for twenty-one days, we stil couldn't manage to figure out what seven plus twenty-one totalled (since he had never needed knowledge like that before and I wasn't even aware of the meaning of 'twenty-one'.

So we went to ask Mai-san.

And that was weird...

"Hey, the long-haired little boys are here!" she greeted us cheerfully. Yes, she really had some very apparent problems with dubbing everything and anything...

"My hair's not -that- long..." I whined, and Marik seconded me on this quickly

"And I can't use sxissorz, so it's not even my fault!" he complained.

"It's spelled S-C-I-S-S-O-R-S, Marik-kun." Mai-san said, probably either hearing or thinking Marik couldn't quite get it right. "With four S and a C."

Marik went quiet for once. "Oh... Really?" he finally muttered, along with something insensible about honorifics and how he didn't want any with his name

"Yes. But did you want to ask me something?" Mai-san replied.

I nodded. It made me nearly sad that I was the only one who couldn't see me perform the action. "Yes! What's seven plus twenty-one?"

"Twenty-one plus seven." Marik corrected.

"It doesn't change the result." Mai-san informed him. "And it's twenty-eight."

I wasn't familiar with this number either, but Marik had promised to teach me to count to hundred (ten ten?), so I was just kinda hoping that twenty-eight came before that.

So I nodded and searched for Marik's hand in the endless darkness.  
"Ryou?" he asked me and squeezed my hand in response.

"I just needed to know you're still there..." I muttered and tugged at his sleeve. "We're going." I simply announced to Mai-san "Bye."

Once we were out of Mai-san's range of hearing (and vision, or at least I believe so) Marik started laughing suddenly.

"Marik?" I questioned him, still holding his hand as he shook with laughter.  
I had to wait for my answer until he wasn't laughing that much anymore. To be honest, it made me happier than I would ever admit to see him laugh like that, but I was too curious for the reason to actually enjoy the moment.

"Mother told me..." he started "that you should show your feelings to the ones you trust."

That didn't clear the situation. If anything, I was more confused now.

I guess he realized this, because he soon made an attempt to explain himself a little better.

"I'm happy." he stated simply, in a way that could be insulting if he was talking to someone older than me (and himself). "You care. You care and I'm happy." he took my other hand in his, too. "And I trust you so you can see it." Of course he didn't mean it literally, so I'm not moping about it.

He pulled me into a hug and murmured something in my hair. I didn't quite catch it, and when I asked him about it, he said it had been nothing. I complained that the fact that I was blind didn't make me deaf, but it was no use, since he still refused to tell me.

I figured that since he had trusted me with his laughter, I could trust him to tell me what he had said some day.

Especially since he had technically already said it to me.

So Marik taught me some numbers - I learned that twenty-eight was actually quite close, even though he only taught me the numbers until twenty-seven that day. He promised me it would be closer than I would've guessed.

When Marik left in the evening of that day (twenty-eight) I was still happier than I had been in the last twenty-one days, but getting down all the same. I had forgotten to ask Marik if he would be back again the next day.

And probably, with my sucky luck, he wouldn't be.

"He came back today, didn't he?" I murmured to myself quietly as I curled up in my bed.

"He promised to teach me more numbers..." I felt sleep slowly taking over me.

"And tell me... Later."

_Day 29_

"Wake up, sunshine~!"

Familiar voice. My mind was a little fogged from sleeping, so it took me some remembering to recognize. "Marik?"

Laughter. "You're getting good at recognizing me!"

Here I realized how there was some weight on my feet. "...where are you?"

"Sitting." he paused "Right here." he patted my feet through the blanket.

"Oh. That's... nice?" I murmured sleepily.

He shifted slightly, causing my blanket to move. "Yeah. It feels really nice."

"Was there something special you wanted to do today?" I asked him carefully. He had never come here this early before.

Marik chuckled. "Not really. Anything you wanna do is just fine. Ishizu just had something to do today. It's important, so... I'm here early~!

This caught my attention. "More important things?" I asked him. It wasn't like adults didn't usually have important things to do, just that Ishizu was bringing Marik here, out of all places.

The subject of her important things probably wasn't too far from here.

"Nawww..." Marik's disagreement turned into a yawn and his weight shifted once more. "More like the same important thing again."

Why did he have to sound so mysterious? It was really annoying! "And.. It's still a secret?" I asked him, only slightly hopeful.

"Yeeees... Sorry..." he murmured before another yawn took over.

I yawned too, since it's contagious like that.

"I guess I'm here a bit two early." he decided.

I didn't reply, I was too tired to say anything. And if he still said something, it was all too late since I was already drifting off.

I had a dream about horses and rollerblades. Or horses with rollerblades, I can't really remember which.

Anyways. When I woke up -surprise, surprise- there weren't any horses or rollerblades to be heard or touched. Probably none to be seen either, but how should I know?

There was something I hit my arm on while searching blindly for my horse (his name was Fluffy), actually.

It was warm, so I was surprised. I poked the thing again, and made a funny noise, snuggling closer to me.

It was so not a horse.

"Marik?" I asked him. Another funny noise, no sensible reaction.

"So you're still asleep..." I murmured, really wishing that I could see him right now.

Again, no reaction.

I suddenly felt a smile tug at my lips.

In a short moment, I replayed the plan in my head and pushed Marik down from my bed. He rolled over and fell on the floor with an "oomph!" sound.

"Hey! Why did you do that?" he asked me, annoyed.

I giggled. "Revenge for waking me up!" I then declared, really proud of myself for carrying on my revenge.

Short silence.

"...Can I revenge your revenge?" Marik asked me, sounding confused.

I thought about it for a while. "But then I would revenge your revenge for my revenge, right? It wouldn't end..."

"Sucks." Marik pouted.

I agreed "Yes it does. Life is so unfair like that."

Another short silence here, and then I heard shuffling as Marik got back up and sat next to me.

I sat up too. "Why were you next to me anyways?" It didn't bother me at all (why would it?), but I was pretty curious at times.

Marik fell silent. "I don't know, actually. But you were so warm..."

I couldn't really disagree with that, seeing how I thought the same thing about him just a moment ago. "You too. We should do it again sometimes." I said, smiling, completely oblivious to what it might have sounded like to someone else.

"Reeaaally?" Marik asked me, and I could truly hear the smile in his voice as he wiped some hair from my face.

I leaned into his touch. "Uh-huh. I really don't like being alone, and you're..." my mind searched for the appropriate word to explain just how great he was.

Seeing how nothing I found sounded right, I pulled Marik into a hug instead. "Really, really, really nice." I murmured quietly. "Different from everyone else."

Marik nuzzled closer to me with a muttered "Thank you"

After a while I pulled away. I _thought_ I heard Marik whine slightly at the loss of contact, but I can never tell for sure.

"Do you want to go find breakfast with me?" I asked him. Mai-san normally saved something for me to eat, since I couldn't quite get anything for myself in the mess the non-blind kids provided every morning.

"Okay!" Marik replied happily.

So off we went, once I managed to locate and (with Marik's help) wear my white t-shirt and grey pants. (or at least Marik commented on the colors like that)

As Marik (_literally_) dragged me to the dining room, he asked me if I had any nice dreams.

"Yeah!" I replied happily. "I had a horse named Fluffy! And then there was something about rollerblades..." I scowled. "It is fuzzy."

"Awesome!" my Egyptian friend said. "I had a dream with strawberries... They were yummy. Sadly Ishizu only lets me eat strawberries during summer... I wish summer would hurry up!" Marik whined.

"It's not too long anymore. It's already May, right?" I ensured him.

"Wow! How do you know that?" Marik asked me, amazed by complex math like this.

I shrugged. "I asked Mai-san about it some days ago. Are strawberries yummy like you said? I have never had any..." I changed the subject.

"WHAT?" Marik cried. "You've _never_ eaten ANY strawberries?" he sounded unwilling to believe such thing was even possible.

I shook my head a no. "So they are good?"

He sighed sort of dreamily. "Very. You have to eat some with me someday, 'kay?"

I nodded a bit too cheerfully, hoping there would indeed be a "someday".

* * *

Don't look at me like that. No, that wasn't filler... It was plot-searching...

Right. I was supposed to ask anyone possibly reading my author's note if they wanted this to keep going like _this _for a while (I have some points I could mention earlier if you wanted this to go on)

or skip days or weeks or~?

'Cause the plot's over there. This is fil- Oh no I _didn't_ just say_ that_!

* * *

Oh and what did Marik say to Ryou? He said it wasn't anything, but you know it was _something_, right?

I have to write myself a note so I won't forget what he said. ._.

Until next time, review~? owo


	4. Promise?

Helllooo~ ^_^  
Again, I'll be gone from June 6th to June 14th (on a church camp...), so no updates or review replys during that time~! D:

But yeah, I might (slim chance) update this once more before leaving. But seriously, don't count on it. :/

"Talking"

_Emphasis on a word, two flashbacks are like this too_

**Disclaimer:** I own absolutely nothing except the plot that gets officially introduced in this chapter.

**Warnings:** Nada._  
_

On a random note, thanks for the reviews on last chapter, guys! So **MewMewRadish**, **kurinki**, **Nebelkind** and **RiverTear980**~ ILU guys~ :'D *gives them cookies*

Special greetings:  
**MewMewRadish:** Lol, an update just when you subscribed... XD  
**Nebelkind:** Plot advance is go! YAYYY! OwO

I'll explain some things in the end, so you'd better read the **author's note** in the end...

* * *

After breakfast (which included some fruits and yoghurt, for future reference), Marik figured we could go ask Mai-san about something to do. Like, if the other kids had something cool planned and we could tag along.

They were planning to play hide and seek later, but I disagreed to be a part of the game. Marik tried to convince me to play, but I wouldn't do it.

I said that I have my reasons, and he gave up in the end.

But then Ishizu came. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but she has a soft voice, a motherly kind with a tender edge to it. Marik and she (she and Marik? No, Marik and she. Whatever.) had some kind of an argument. At least I think it was an argument, since Marik sounded particularly unhappy about it. But they were using Egyptian to discuss about it, so I didn't understand a word.

Finally, after some more yelling, Marik gave up for the second time that day and walked over to me. He hugged me carefully and said that needed to go do something awfully important with Ishizu.

I don't know what gave it away, but after he unwrapped his arms from around me, he ruffled my hair and said, "Don't look so sad, Ryou. I'll be back."

I feebly held my pinky up, trying hard not to cry, since Marik didn't want me to look so sad. "Promise?"

"Promise." Marik agreed and entwined his pinky with mine.

And again Marik left., but this time he actually promised to be back.

So I waited.

While I was patiently waiting for Marik's return, days passed. And when enough days pass, they turn into weeks.

Mai-san offered to teach me more numbers, but I carefully turned her down. This only because _Marik_ promised to come back, and _Marik _promised to teach me to count to hundred. I believe Mai-san understood this, because she didn't question my decision, teaching me some alphabets and kanji instead.

My name is spelled "R-Y-O-U." Marik's name has an R too. So naturally, I like R now.

Ryou is written with this funny kanji. Mai said it's like a sideways jackal head or... Something of the sort.. I didn't remember seeing it so I couldn't really tell.

And that particular kanji means completion. My mother must've liked me to name me like that... I liked the idea.

Then I ended up wondering if Marik liked me, too. Like my mum liked me? That sounded awkward. But...

_"Do you want to be my friend?"_

_"I don't mind."_

_"I will nevernevernevernever complain about shopping again! Without shopping, we wouldn't have met! Yay shopping!"_

_"Mother told me... that you should show your feelings to the ones you trust."_

_"You care. You care and I'm happy. And I trust you so you can see it."_

_"You have to eat some with me someday, 'kay?"_

_"Promise."_

Marik sure acted like he liked me. I didn't know what kind of liking it is, since I wasn't too familiar with liking in general. Marik liked strawberries... Because they were yummy. If he liked me, I hoped it wasn't because I was yummy. Or because I tasted like strawberries. For all I knew, he didn't even know what I tasted like...

...Back to kanji now...

The kanji for Bakura sounded so complicated that I forgot them right away. I hoped Mai-san wouldn't mind, since I did learn a lot of other things from her.

Weeks passed. And when enough weeks pass, they turn into months.

Marik isn't Japanese, so his name isn't written in kanji, but katakana. Yeah, those things that look like snakes. I've never really understood them, either.

Soon it was June, just summery enough for me to wonder if Marik had got the strawberries he had wanted. And if I hadn't believed in luck, fate, hope, destiny and all the other fluffy, cute and special fairytale things, I gained more faith in them that day, when I heard Marik's cheerful laughter, almost like my thoughts had somehow summoned him.

"Ryou! Why did I know I would find you here?"

"We met here, so I'm always here." I said simply.

Marik muttered something in what I believed what was an agreement, and grabbed my arm. "Let's go!" he said sing-song.

"Huh?" I questioned as he pulled me up, "Where?"

"You'll see." he said mysterically, and once again I could just hear his grin.

So I agreed to go with him. Even though I was wary of surprises, I trusted Marik more than I had ever trusted anyone else. Oh, and Marik had the weirdest conversations when it was all quiet. I thought that I should remember to tell him that someday.

"Do you like cucumbers?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "I guess they are all right. I like creampuffs. Oh, and did you get your strawberries?" I asked upon recalling his somewhat obsessive behavior towards the mentioned berries.

"Nope. I'm waiting..." my friend seemed to be thinking hard about something here, "Ishizu said that there's only six months until my birthday! Isn't that cool?" he suddenly changed the subject out of nowhere.

I was vaguely aware that six months was half a year, but I agreed anyways. "Yes, it's cool! When is your birthday, then?"

"December 23rd. Juuust before Christmas." I heard from his voice that he didn't really approve of the thought.

"Oh, so you celebrate Christmas too?" I questioned, referring to him being Egyptian and stuff.

"Yeah." he let the subject drop like that. "When's your birthday?"

"September 9th." I informed him. "Not that far, either."

"Awesome! I won't forget!" he promised. And I, too, made a mental note to not forget December 23rd.

Then he stopped and knocked on something. You know, knock-kno-kno-knock-knock, knock-knock-knock? Well, like that anyways. It was probably a door he knocked on, actually.

"I brought him!" Marik chirped, quite obviously referring to me when saying "him". Then he pulled me into a room with Ishizu and some kindergarten-adult-person inside and sat me in a chair like a little doll.

"Good afternoon, Ryou-kun." the kindergarten person said politely. Funny, I wasn't even aware that it was already afternoon...

I nodded. "Good afternoon." I thought his name was Kaiba or Koiba or something, but I didn't want to risk it.

I wanted to know if I was in trouble or something to have Marik drag me here, but it would've been a very rude question, so I avoided asking it, instead holding Marik's hand for mental support.

"Do you need his agreement on this?" Marik asked.

Some shuffling of papers.

"No, but it's always better that way." Koiba-san answered. Or Kaiba. The kindergarten person.

I was a bit confused; My agreement on _what_, exactly?

Marik poked my floorhead, effectually gaining my attention. "Do you want Ishizu to adopt you?" he questioned somewhat shyly.

Adopt? Like, I could get out of this place and live _with Marik_?

"Huh?" I asked dumbly to make sure I hadn't heard him wrong. Maybe I was just dreaming all this... Maybe Marik was actually somewhere else, sharing strawberries with some girl...

No, he wouldn't do that. We made a pinky promise.

"Marik is picky about his friends, and I've always wanted another little brother." Ishizu explained to me, "I've had the papers in for ages, but nobody has been found so far. And then, I leave Marik alone for _a day _and he befriends you, Ryou!" she giggled lightly, "Doesn't that sounds like fate to you?"

So me meeting Marik was _fate_? I kind of liked this thought.

I wasn't sure who the last question was pointed to (or if it was rhetorical), and I didn't even get the chance to answer it anyways, before Marik already continued for her.

"And I can be your guide dog if you want." the promise held such sincerity in it that it didn't even cross my mind that he would've meant it jokingly.

Here I managed to voice my thoughts. "You would do that?" I asked Marik, happier than words could describe. "You would be my eyes?"

"Yes." he agreed.

I didn't need him to make a pinky promise about the subject, because I knew he wouldn't let me down. "Yes." I repeated, "I would like that."

The kindergarten person handed me a pen (at least I think it was . "Then do sign this." he showed Marik the spot, and my Egyptian friend guided my hand holding the pen to the space. "Just doodle something." he whispered.

And I obeyed, drawing a random curvy line, just something to say "Ryou approves of this".

We left Ishizu and Koiba-san there to talk and probably fill some more papers.

"Now you won't need to come here ever again. How does it feel?" Marik was grinning again, I just knew it.

"Epic. I hated it here before you came around." I said honestly.

Marik seemed to agree with me on this, "Yeah, this isn't one of the nicest places, right?" I nodded, and he continued, "Home is much better. You can sleep with me."

It was quiet for a moment. I tried to find any signs that would verify if I was dreaming or not.

"You know what?" Marik asked me suddenly.

"Huh?"

"That was the important thing. Ishizu had a lot of paper work to get them to agree so we could keep you." Marik said, talking kind of like I was a stray puppy.

I felt tears well up in my eyes. Marik's special secret was that he and Ishizu wanted me to have a home?

"W-wh-what about the thing you murmured in my hair and promised to tell me about it later?" I shuttered.

Marik pulled me close, apparently trying to recreate the situation.

"Oh." he said, without letting me go. "I said 'I promise I'll get you out of here'."

I started crying silently. I just couldn't help it anymore.

"Ryou?" Marik asked. "Are you crying?"

"Yes." I replied meekly. "You care. You care and I'm happy. And I trust you so you can see it." I repeated his words perfectly.

"I'm glad you trust me." Marik said simply. "I'll try to be worth it. Now will you tell me why you wouldn't play hide-and-seek?"

I tried hard to disappear in Marik's arms, but I probably didn't try hard enough, since it didn't actually work. "My father played hide-and-seek with me. I hid, and he didn't come. Then I started feeling really dizzy... And there was something that smelled awful, and then I woke up and I was blind."

"Ryou" Marik cried.

I heard him, but I couldn't stop the flooding memories anymore. "Father was so mad... So, so mad. And then he died. And mother died too. And I was..."

"RYOU!" Marik cried again, tightening his grip on me. "Please... just stop... I'm sorry I asked you. I'm so sorry."

I came out of my daze to find Marik crying. "It's alright." I said reassuringly. "It wasn't your fault that it happened."

"And neither was it yours." Marik decided.

Acceptance. I smiled, and I know Marik smiled back.

"Ishizu will come out soon." I stated.

"I know."

"You should let me go."

"I won't. You are warm."

"You'll answer if she asks something." I giggled, thinking about the possible questions.

"Fair enough." Marik let me go, and frankly, I quickly found myself regretting ever even mentioning Ishizu.

"Any more secrets you want to share?" I asked him.

My best friend seemed to think about this for a while. "Maybe... What do you want to know?"

"Why are you waiting with the strawberries?"

Marik chuckled. "You are silly, Ryou. Don't you know?"

_"You have to eat some with me someday, 'kay?"_

"Oh." I really did feel silly now. Marik wanted to eat strawberries with me, so he waited patiently to see if Ishizu could adopt me.

"Yeah." Marik ruffled my hair affectionally, "Yeah."

"Marik! Ryou!" Ishizu called. "We can go now!"

"'Kay!" Marik said and stood up, taking my hand in his to pull me up too. "Come on, Ryou. We're going home."

I liked the word. "Home".

During the car ride, Marik taught me more numbers, from twenty-eight to fifty-six.

And Ishizu kept on commenting how happy she was that Marik had found a friend in me.

I was so happy about that too.

Once we were home, Ishizu, Marik and I agreed on where some small things would always be so I could find them too.

The toothbrushes were in the left corner of the small table in the bathroom, the first-aid kit was in the hallway, the phone was on the kitchen counter, stuff like that.

And then Marik took me to his room, which was up the stairs and left through the corridor, and showed me his belongings.

In reality, this meant he gave them to me and let me poke them. There aren't too many ways to show things to a blind person, after all.

Marik had a desk in his room, and he set most of the things there and let me learn their order.

A pencil case, a plushie cat, a book in hieroglyphs, my photo book...

We agreed to put my clothes in the right side of his wardrobe. Because it would've seriously bothered me if the toothbrushes were on the _left_, and Marik's room was on the _left_ and my clothes were on the _left_, too.

Marik laughed at this and told me that I was weird.

I claimed that he was weird too, and he said that at least we were weird together.

Apparently Ishizu had prepared food meanwhile, because soon she called us down to eat.

"What are we eating?" I questioned.

"Don't worry, it's not some traditional Egyptian food, it's spaghetti. And tomato sauce." Marik informed me.

"Coooool, spaghetti is yummy!" I cheered gleefully.

"I know right?" Marik said as we sat down.

"Do you like it here, Ryou?" Ishizu asked me just a little worriedly.

I nodded eagerly, "Yes! It's really nice here!"

She let out a sigh. "That's a relief. I was worried if you'd feel weird in a place like this... Should you sleep in the guest room?"

And once again, Marik answered for me. "No! Ryou is sleeping with _me_!" he announced, hugging me more or less possessively.

Ishizu giggled at this. "I see."

"It's okay with you, right?" I asked, just to make sure, before nuzzling a little bit closer to Marik.

"Very much so. Now eat before your food gets too cold." Ishizu said happily.

* * *

If you think Ishizu seems off, it's just because she's really young too.

Hope you're happy now. It should've been pretty obvious from the beginning that Ishizu would adopt Ryou, but yeah, if it wasn't...

**_Ryou wasn't in a kindergarten at any point. He was a foster kid. :/_**

And Ryou's explonation is REALLY fuzzy. But he wasn't really _there_ when it happened, so I guess I have to explain it...

Ryou's father was a bit ignorant, and left Ryou alone in town. There, this one bad man (10 points if you know who. It's really not that hard) drugged him and tried to threaten his father to give him money. But his father didn't care, and this _person_ went into blindish rage and accidentally poisoned poor Ryou. And he took Ryou back to his home in regret, and killed Ryou's father later, so the little boy wouldn't make the connection.

Don't blame the bad man. I'd make him apologize to Ryou, but my Angsthipping never seems to work if... _Certain people_ exist.  
And don't blame me, but that's what happened. XD

Reviewwwww? owo


	5. Little Bits of Happiness

Sorry for disappearing on you guys! ;_;

To my defense, I was drowning in life during my absense. I had my confirmation and all that... Gomen gomen gomen!

This chapter isn't even worth the wait. But I do have half of the last chapter written. And this stands for the epilogue, too. Why? I have no idea...

I guess it's just 'cause I knew all along what I'd do for the last chapter. Did you know that this was originally just chapters 1, 4 and the last one? The rest I figured randomly because.

Oh and my plan is this chapter + one chapter focusing on Ryou's school + last chapter + epilogue?

If all goes well, that is.

And I have half of the last chapter written. And for the epilogue, too. Why? I have no idea...

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own.

**Warnings:** -

* * *

Everything worked out just fine. I did sleep next to Marik, during that first night and many others that followed. (So many that I lost count, sorry.)

In the morning, Marik asked me if I slept well.

My reply was "Of course. You are warm."

He laughed at this. "You are warmer, I'm sure." With this, he poked my floor head with his finger. "Nice kind of warm. Fuzzy."

Then Ishizu made us breakfast. It was pancakes, since she didn't have work that day. It was really, really, really good.

And Marik spent a long while just showing me where the pieces of furniture were, which room was next to which, how many steps should take me from his room to the kitchen. I found the thought slightly scary, really; having to walk around alone.

Marik, on the other hand, found it amusing how dependant on him I was.

Ishizu said I would get over it with time.

Myself, I wasn't too sure if I even -wanted- to get over it. Because Marik's presence seriously comforted me.

Even when I was at the dentist for the very first time. They poked my mouth with all sorts of weird things and said I had caries. And that they needed to use a -drill- on my tooth and give me something to numb the pain with first-!

I don't even want to think about that. The main point is that Marik was there, sitting next to me and telling me how he had a dream about pirates. And that I would make a cool pirate captain if I had an eye-patch. Or maybe two.

The experience probably would've been just about ten times worse without Marik, so I am glad he was there.

We ate ice cream afterwards. I learnt that while he liked strawberries, Marik preferred mint for his ice cream. My friend is a weirdo...

Which reminds me!

We got strawberries the other day, Marik and me! They were really, really yummy, just like he said!

And he was glad. "I'm so happy I got to share these with you!" was what he said.

I pulled him into a hug for this. "Thank youuuu~!" I said, absently noting how Marik was making me happier in general, too. Maybe I was adopting his personality or something.

"No problem." Marik made absolutely no attempt to move anywhere, just taking another strawberry. "One more left. You can have it." he informed me.

"Ooh, cool, thanks!" I said and took my strawberry.

Summer was over soon enough. It didn't really matter to me that much, but Marik was sad over the loss of his strawberries.

"But it's your birthday soon~!" he suddenly exclaimed, the idea appearing to make him happy.

I nodded. "I know. It's cool, right?"

"Have we had this conversation before?"

I was quiet for a moment. "Maybe... Or maybe not! What does it even matter?"

"It doesn't," Marik decided, "But in a few years, we'll have this conversation for the twenty-seventh time. And then it will be awkward."

Do things only get awkward when you care about someone? Because I only remembered things being awkward with Marik included.

"What's 'awkward'?" I then asked.

Marik rose his hand to scratch the back of his head. It made this funny "scratch-scratch-scratch" sound. "I think it's like... When someone you care about sees or hears-" I know he added the last part for me "-something about you that you find stupid. Or something."

I laughed. "I knew it! I'm so smart!"

Sounding unfazed by my proud statement, Marik ruffled my hair. "Yes you are."

I wanted a cat at one point (I think I was like, four. But father was allergic to the fur. I got Marik instead, beats a cat anytime.). Cats purrrrr. And I think I almost did too, when Marik touched my hair like that.

Marik kept repeating the thing about my birthday. It was almost funny; he was more excited than I was.

He said it was because he cared about me and my birthday was there because people cared about me. Fair enough...

One morning, when I woke up, I just knew something was waaaay off.

'Cause Marik wasn't there, that's why. He was always there before, without failure. He would have his arms around me or the other way around. I liked to know he was there, so that's why I used him as a plushie of some sort. And a pillow on occasions.

When I made my way down to the kitchen (12 steps down the stairs), he was there.

"Ryou! Good morning!" he said cheerfully, tugging me down to sit next to him.

Being the somewhat possessive little kid I was, I asked him what was up right away.

Marik immediately seemed to remember how I didn't like being alone. "I'm so sorry, Ryou!" he cried, "But I was hungry and you were so cute when you were sleeping!"

Funny, my cheecks felt so warm after this. "Well I don't care if I'm cute, but next time wake me up, please?"

"Sure thing, I promise!" he agreed.

I nodded in agreement, and he offered me one of his sandwiches as an apology. I accepted it even though I had already forgiven him.

We played a game with alphabets while eating. Too bad neither of us really knew them.

"Aka." I started uncertainly.

"Banana!" Marik said happily.

"Umm... Ceedee." I heard Ishizu listen to one while cooking before. It sounded nice.

"Ryou." Marik took his turn.

"I don't think... Oh well. Marik."

"Ryou."

"Marik."

"Ryou."

"Marik."

"I like your name. It sounds so nice. Ryoooou." Marik giggled.

"Thank you. But your name is waaay cooler. Marik... Marik-Marik-Marik..." I tried to repeat it fast but ended up tongue-tied. Never mind that, I still thought Marik's name was cool. Marik was cool in general, actually.

Marik giggled even more at my pathetic attempt.

Ishizu came home (home. It was mine and Marik's and Ishizu's. Sounds so nice.) soon after we had finished eating, and she was really happy for some reason.

When we asked her about it, she began a complicated (very complicated) explanation.

But the main thing was that she had signed me and Marik to schools.

Mine was some very special school for blind people. It sounded kind of nice and it was really close to their (our?) house. Like, a mile or something.

And Marik's was the elementary school close by. Yay.

Honestly, going to some special school (alone!) sounded i-ncred-ibly scary, but I wasn't going to admit it, since I had the feeling I should go to some school anyways.

If I didn't go to school, how was I ever supposed to have a life? It just wouldn't happen. Mum always remembered to tell me how important it was to do well in school and then get a good job.

I rarely gave my adultness much thought, but it did pop in my mind when Ishizu mentioned about school. What would I do as an adult? Would I have a guide dog? Or would I have Marik? But Marik needed a life of his own too... He deserved it, if anyone. Sigh.

I wanted to keep Marik. But how would it be possible? My mind was kind of stuck at my fantastic plan to not let Marik go. Ever.

Well... Married people were together, for one thing. Married people were always together. At least mom and father were. They were always so happy together.

So...

...Could I marry Marik?

...awkward. No, I guessed this meant I could not marry him. Sigh.

"Why are you sighing?" Marik suddenly asked me.

Sighing? Was I? I thought I only did it mentally, but I figured that if Marik indeed heard me sigh, then I must've done it aloud.

I tilted my head slightly, "I guess it's just that... Future is scary." I reluctantly admitted. "What do you think you'll do when you're older?"

Marik chuckled. "Be with you?" he then guessed, like it was the most obvious thing the world. Kind of like saying 'Candy is yummy' or 'Teddy bears are soft'.

I nodded, "Yeah. I guess future isn't that scary after all."

"Of course not!" Marik replied, ruffling my hair. I didn't know why, but somehow that action comforted me. It said: 'I'll take care of you' and other such things.

And school was still months away. No need to worry about it just yet.

But how do they say, again? 'Time flies when you have fun' or something?

I never knew months could pass so quickly.

Part of it might've been because life found a steady pattern, but my birthday, Marik's birthday, Christmas; it's all a blurry mess in my mind now that I look back at it.

Not that it matters – if something important would've happened, I'm certain I would've remembered it.

And then school already started. Ishizu got us cell phones so that we could call each other and her. Marik explained that his was purple and mine was silver.

I could call Marik by pressing the first button and Ishizu by pressing the second button. Simple, much? Marik first, Ishizu second… Somehow the thought amused me, to be honest. It was just like my life, so…

School. Back to the point where I almost mentioned school. I kind of did, actually.

It wasn't as bad as I had thought.

* * *

Blah. I was so busy I was forced to write this in bits. And you can totally see that. *le sigh*

Promise I'll be faster to update with next chappie, now that all the confirmation mess is finally over. ^^;

Review?


	6. Best Worst Birthday

Merry Christmas, you.  
Happy birthday, Marik. Sorry but this chappie concentrates on Ryou's birthday...

I'm _so sorry_ this took me ages. Sorry, sorry, sorry. But the file deleted itself twice. _TWICE_. This is the third time I wrote it. And I'm learning to backup my files now, so... (/I have a cute USB flash drive the shape of a tick XD)

Thanks to anyone who might still remember this or be reading this right now~ You're the reason I'm writing this, you know that, right?

I promise to update faster next time, really.

**Disclaimer:** Don't own any more than I did last time I updated, really...  
**Warnings:** Nada.

Inspirative song was MCR's "Disenchanted", which kept me going with this, haha.

Oh and thank **Anamique4** for me making this chapter the way I did in the first place. Okay?

* * *

_**I hate the ending myself, but it started with an alright scene ~ Disenchanted - My Chemical Romance**_

* * *

If you really want to hear about it, I guess I could go back to my birthday. I don't really like to remember it, but Marik's told me many times that when you share something sad with someone else (though usually it's always Marik himself, the person who I share sad stuff with), it's suddenly not as sad anymore. And besides...

At least it started out kind of nice.

It was the kind of day when you wake up, only to wonder if you've woken up. Marik told me it was so dark that he was pretty sure it was still night... Or that he had gone blind also. Which worried him, until Ishizu walked in and turned on the lights.

"Happy birthday to Ryou~" she sang cheerfully, nudging me awake.

I rubbed my closed eyes lazily, trying to sit up. Sadly (or not) Marik didn't quite agree with me, and I was pulled back down by his arm that was wrapped around my waist protectively.

"What are we playing?" Marik asked, and I wasn't sure if he was actually serious or just sleeping still.

"...I don't know, either..." I muttered, hearing Ishizu chuckling somewhere not too far.

"Well, if you two can get up within... let's say, half an hour, there's waffles and cake waiting~" she informed us happily.

"Waffles?" Marik asked, sitting up and pulling me up along with.

"Cake?" I asked hopefully. I recalled the last time I had eaten cake must've been...

...it might've never happened, to be honest.

No, wait! Mum used to make cake! She made it really yummy! It had chocolate and whipped cream and many many many layers and I always ate a lot of it and then my whole face was messy with chocolate!

"Yes. So up and dressed quickly, okay?"

I nodded, and I guess Marik did too, though I naturally failed to see it.

Marik let go of me and stood up. He then gave me some of my clothes from the floor so I could get dressed. "The blue shirt you wore yesterday, the light brown hoodie and black pants," he informed me.

"I have a brown hoodie?" I asked stupidly, working a little slowly so early in the morning.

"The one that feels furry is light brown," he chuckled, "The one we got you a few months back? When you told me to look around at the store for something nice?"

"Oh. The furry one." I nodded approvingly and got dressed.

Sleeves always caused me the most trouble. Often times I dealt with them by asking Marik where I had lost the sleeve. If you have never tried wearing your shirt with your eyes closed, you wouldn't know.

Most of my shirts had buttons or zippers so that I wouldn't wear them the wrong way around. (Been there, done that, had Marik help with that...)

"Look alright?" I asked Marik when I thought I was done.

He was quiet for a moment, probably looking me up and down or something, then taking my hand in his. "Sure are, let's go!"

My face felt warm, with happiness I could tell. It almost always happened when Marik did this.

I followed him down the stairs.

"Waffles!" Marik exclaimed, releasing my hand to probably make a quick snatch to get a waffle or two.

"Nu-uh!" Ishizu snapped, followed by a quiet whine from my best friend. I wondered why Ishizu would deny Marik his tasty waffles. We both knew how much he _adored_waffles! Especially with strawberry jam! (Because he loved strawberries, it only made sense he would love strawberry jam, too. Right?)

Just as I opened my mouth to try and tell Ishizu my point of view, she continued. "You need to wait, Marik. The birthday boy goes first today!"

"Oh," Marik pulled me towards the smell of waffles impatiently. "Sorry Ryou... Of course you should go first!"

"Thanks..." I murmured shyly, not really used to people celebrating my birthday like this (or even remembering it, for the most part!). Of course, mum used to do something nice with me on my 'special day', but that was so long ago that it barely even counted, really.

Marik piled some waffles, cookies and cake on my plate, chatting happily all the while.

"What's your favorite thing you've got for you birthday?" he asked me curiously.

I thought for a while, then pulling a photo from my pocket. It was grumbled, but I always made sure to move it to the pocket of whatever I would be wearing that day. It was important to me even though I might never see it again (Again with saying that. Sometimes I wished that I really could forget all about being blind, for a day or so at least.).

It was mum.

"My father gave me this when mum had died." I murmured, pressing the photo in his hand gently, "He said she'd still be with me."

"...she's beautiful. I knew you had to get it from somewhere." Marik murmured, giving it back carefully.

I tilted my head confusedly as I put the photo away.

"...did I say that aloud?" he muttered awkwardly.

"Call me be-au-ti-ful?" I spelled the word slowly, afraid I could manage to get it wrong if I spoke too fast. "You did."

"...never mind... Forget about it."

"Sure," I agreed with a smile.

But I knew I wouldn't do it. I'd keep all of Marik's words, be it good or bad, locked in my heart forever.

Marik ruffled my hair, laughing. "Liar." I didn't know how he knew that, but I supposed it didn't matter all too much either way.

And so I laughed with him lightly, not bothering to deny this. "Maybe."

"...now can we eat?" he asked me with a pout-like voice, almost making me start laughing again.

I nodded in response, and heard him go all munch-munch-munch-munch.

Soon I heard a weird sound, followed by Marik's complaints. "Hey! Ishizuuuu...! I had my eyes closed!" He then turned to me, murmuring, "She's taking photos of us."

I shrugged. I didn't really have any special liking towards photographs, but if someone wanted to take pictures of me, then it was just fiiine by me.

Marik wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me closer for a photo. "Say waffle!" he called cheerily.

"Waffle!" We said in unison, and the weird sound was heard again.

"...did it turn out good?" Marik asked a little after, curiously as ever.

"I think so," Ishizu responded, "But we'll only know for sure later."

"Oh."

It was quiet for a while again.

"Ishizu? When are we giving Ryou his presents?" Marik's voice suddenly sounded throughout the otherwise quiet kitchen.

I gasped quietly (so quietly that only Marik might be able to hear it, and that only if he knew me like I knew him). I would be getting _presents_? For real?

"After you two have finished eating."

Marik made a whine that sounded kind of like he wanted to tell me to hurry up so that we could get to it, but on the other hand, didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable and in a hurry to eat on my birthday and then again, he probably wanted some more waffles.

So he stayed somewhat quiet until he noticed that I hadn't asked him for any more cake or cookies or waffles for a while now.

"You ready?" he asked, and I could pretty much imagine his eyes shining, even though I had never even seen his eyes shining. Or his eyes, at all (or him, for that matter).

I nodded to him after a quick touch to my plate to make sure it really was empty, and he cheered happily, "Presents!"

He tugged me to the living room (it was next to the kitchen... I think.) eagerly.

"Presents, presents~" he sang cheerily, making me smile and soon sing along also. I found it pretty amazing how happy _he _was about _me_getting presents, but chose not to ask him why he thought it was so cool.

Ishizu gave both me and Marik both cell phones. She seemed a little embarrassed about it, and soon continued to apologize that she had also got Marik something on my birthday, but promised to get me something when it was his.

Of course I didn't mind; Marik totally deserved a phone, more so than I did, if you ask me. And what would I do with a cell phone if Marik didn't have one, too? Then I couldn't call him! That wouldn't have made any sense!

He told me his phone was dark-ish lilac and mine was silver (which I found surprisingly fitting until realizing that Ishizu had probably thought about it while buying them), and then he and Ishizu both helped me set up two shortcuts; when I pressed the button for 'one', it called Marik, and 'two' called Ishizu. It made a lot of sense, to me at least.

It seemed like Marik could barely stop himself from grinning really really really widely when he handed me his present. It was soft furry, that much I could easily tell by a quick, simply touch to it.

"Her name is Miho! She's a white Tabby, a cat!" he informed me proudly. "She has a light blue collar around her neck! And blue eyes, the glass-kind, you know! And a pink nose, too!"

I smiled, pulling Marik into a hug, trapping Miho between us. "Thanks, Marik!" I was really happy that my best friend would do something like this for me, but I had a sort of hard time finding the right words for telling him that. Maybe I just thought he _knew_how much it all meant to me.

"Nooooo problem!" he murmured cheerily.

I giggled. I don't even know why, but I just reallyreallyreally felt like it, just then, so I did. A simple thing in a simple seven-year old's world or something, I guess...

Marik then suggested that we could go to our (our. Still like the sound of that.) room and then play together and stuff. And since it sounded like one of the first five ideas in the Grand Book of the Best Ideas in the World (not sure if that really exists though, but if it doesn't, it should. I bet they'd have some of Marik's ideas there. Or, or, or, maybe they could make a whole book from Marik's ideas!), I agreed immediately.

I sat on the floor, Marik sat on the bed and I sat Miho next to myself. We played a few board games, like Monopoly and Bunny Hop. Marik would've wanted to play Guess Who, but since I couldn't see, it would've been a little impossible. Labyrinth turned out to be impossible, too. Sadly. I liked that game, at least by what Marik told me about it.

After like, eight games, seven of which Marik won since he had played them before (and I think he let me win the eighth one, to be honest), he asked me what I wanted to do.

I moved my little kitty-plushie and squeaked for her, "Miho would like someone to do her fur~"

"Not now, Miho," Marik whined like the six-year old he was (And I'm not only saying that because I turned seven that day, nope), "I want to talk to Ryou."

"Say the magic word~" I squealed in Miho's place, pretending it really was her talking to my best friend and not me.

"Please," he finally muttered.

I smiled, putting Miho away. "You called?"

"Yup!" he said gleefully, "What do you want to do?"

I was quiet for a moment. "...whatever Miho wants?" I then said slowly.

It became eerie quiet for a little moment, until I heard Marik get up. "Miho this and Miho that! Would you just stop saying that already?" he suddenly cried. And before I could say anything to that, I heard him storm out of the room and the only thought in my head was 'What just happened?'

Marik didn't talk to me for the rest of the day.

* * *

As said, Merry Christmas, you all.

...I know I shouldn't, but can I ask for a review? ._. They help me write...


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